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Kaikōmako
''Pennantia corymbosa'', commonly known as kaikomako (from the Māori ), is a small dioecious tree endemic to New Zealand. Small, creamy flowers are produced between November and February, followed by a shiny black fruit in autumn. They are a favourite food of the New Zealand bellbird. The Māori name means food () of the bellbird (). Traditionally, Māori used the tree to make fire by repeatedly rubbing a pointed stick into a groove on a piece of māhoe. An English name is "duck's foot", coming from the shape of the juvenile plant's leaf. Juvenile plants have small leaves with tangled, divaricating stems, while mature plants have much larger leaves and a normal tree architecture. Description Identifying ''P. corymbosa'' is different at each stage of its life. As a seedling, Kaikōmako has cotyledons which are entire and oval shaped, and are about in size. As the plant grows, the first true leaves are about 9 x 8mm and are three-toothed. As a juvenile, the plant grows in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennantia Baylisiana
''Pennantia baylisiana'', commonly known as Three Kings kaikōmako or (Māori language, Māori), is a species of plant in the family Pennantiaceae (Icacinaceae in older classifications). It is Endemism, endemic to Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands, around northwest of Cape Reinga, New Zealand. At the time of its discovery just endling, one plant remained. This single tree grows on a scree slope inaccessible to browsing goats, and has been called "the world's loneliest tree". The species was discovered in 1945 by botanist Geoff Baylis and described in 1948, although it took decades before it was it was fully accepted as a distinct species of ''Pennantia''. Although the only wild tree is female, it was successfully propagated from cuttings in the 1950s, one of which was induced to self-pollinate in 1985. Subsequent seed-grown plants have themselves set seeds, and the species has been replanted on the island, the adjoining mainland, and in public and private gardens around New Ze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māori Mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pre-European Māori, often involving gods and demigods. Māori tradition concerns more folkloric legends often involving historical or semi-historical forebears. Both categories merge in to explain the overall origin of the Māori and their connections to the world which they lived in. The Māori did not have a writing system before European contact, beginning in 1769, therefore they relied on oral retellings and recitations memorised from generation to generation. The three forms of expression prominent in Māori and Polynesian oral literature are genealogical recital, poetry, and narrative prose. Experts in these subjects were broadly known as . The rituals, beliefs, and general worldview of Māori society were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennantiaceae
''Pennantia'' is the sole genus in the plant family Pennantiaceae. In older classifications, it was placed in the family Icacinaceae. Most authorities have recognised three or four species, depending on whether they recognised '' Pennantia baylisiana'' as a separate species from '' Pennantia endlicheri''. British-born botanist David Mabberley has recognised two species. The species are small to medium, sometimes multi-trunked trees. Leaves are alternate, leathery, and with entire or sometimes toothed margins. Inflorescences are terminal and flowers are functionally unisexual; the species are more or less dioecious. ''Pennantia'' species grow naturally in New Zealand, Norfolk Island, and eastern Australia. In Australia, '' P. cunninghamii'' grows across a broad latitudinal natural range (nearly ), from the south coast of New South Wales northwards through to north eastern Queensland. The genus name, ''Pennantia'', is in honor of Thomas Pennant, an 18th century Welsh zoologist a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand Bellbird
The New Zealand bellbird (''Anthornis melanura''), also known by its Māori language names korimako, makomako and kōmako, is a medium-sized species of honeyeater Endemism in birds, endemic to New Zealand. It has been the only living member of the genus ''Anthornis'' since the Chatham bellbird went extinct in the early 20th century. The bellbird's closest living relative is the only other New Zealand honeyeater, the tūī (''Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae''). The bellbird forms a significant component of the famed New Zealand Dawn chorus (birds)#New Zealand, dawn chorus of bird vocalization, birdsong, which was much noted by early European settlers. Exceptional singing abilities were already observed by Captain James Cook, who described its song as "like small bells most exquisitely tuned". Bellbirds measure about in length, with females weighing approximately and males . Males are mostly olive-green with paler underparts, and bluish-black wings and tail. Females are paler and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennantia Corymbosa Tree11
''Pennantia'' is the sole genus in the plant family Pennantiaceae. In older classifications, it was placed in the family Icacinaceae. Most authorities have recognised three or four species, depending on whether they recognised ''Pennantia baylisiana'' as a separate species from ''Pennantia endlicheri''. British-born botanist David Mabberley has recognised two species. The species are small to medium, sometimes multi-trunked trees. Leaves are alternate, leathery, and with entire or sometimes toothed margins. Inflorescences are terminal and flowers are functionally unisexual; the species are more or less dioecious. ''Pennantia'' species grow naturally in New Zealand, Norfolk Island, and eastern Australia. In Australia, '' P. cunninghamii'' grows across a broad latitudinal natural range (nearly ), from the south coast of New South Wales northwards through to north eastern Queensland. The genus name, ''Pennantia'', is in honor of Thomas Pennant, an 18th century Welsh zoologist and a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stigma (botany)
The stigma (: stigmas or stigmata) is the receptive tip of a Gynoecium#Carpels, carpel, or of several fused carpels, in the gynoecium of a flower. Description The stigma, together with the Style (botany), style and ovary (botany), ovary (typically called the stigma-style-ovary system) comprises the pistil, which is part of the gynoecium or female reproductive organ of a plant. The stigma itself forms the distal portion of the style, or stylodia, and is composed of , the cells of which are receptive to pollen. These may be restricted to the apex of the style or, especially in wind pollinated species, cover a wide surface. The stigma receives pollen and it is on the stigma that the pollen grain germination, germinates. Often sticky, the stigma is adapted in various ways to catch and trap pollen with various hairs, flaps, or sculpturings. The pollen may be captured from the air (wind-borne pollen, anemophily), from visiting insects or other animals (Pollination syndrome#Biotic, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seedling
A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embryonic Shoot (botany), shoot), and the cotyledons (seed leaves). The two classes of flowering plants (angiosperms) are distinguished by their numbers of seed leaves: monocotyledons (monocots) have one blade-shaped cotyledon, whereas dicotyledons (dicots) possess two round cotyledons. Gymnosperms are more varied. For example, pine seedlings have up to eight cotyledons. The seedlings of some flowering plants have no cotyledons at all. These are said to be acotyledons. The plumule is the part of a seed embryo that develops into the shoot bearing the first true leaves of a plant. In most seeds, for example the sunflower, the plumule is a small conical structure without any leaf structure. Growth of the plumule does not occur until the cotyledon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants of an ancestral taxon are grouped together (i.e. Phylogeneti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phylogeny
A phylogenetic tree or phylogeny is a graphical representation which shows the evolutionary history between a set of species or Taxon, taxa during a specific time.Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. In other words, it is a branching diagram or a tree (graph theory), tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities based upon similarities and differences in their physical or genetic characteristics. In evolutionary biology, all life on Earth is theoretically part of a single phylogenetic tree, indicating common ancestry. Phylogenetics is the study of phylogenetic trees. The main challenge is to find a phylogenetic tree representing optimal evolutionary ancestry between a set of species or taxa. computational phylogenetics, Computational phylogenetics (also phylogeny inference) focuses on the algorithms involved in finding optimal phylogenetic tree in the phylogenetic landscape. Phylogene ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology (biology), morphology, behaviour, or ecological niche. In addition, palaeontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. The most recent rigorous estimate for the total number of species of eukaryotes is between 8 and 8.7 million. About 14% of these had been described by 2011. All species (except viruses) are given a binomial nomenclature, two-part name, a "binomen". The first part of a binomen is the name of a genus to which the species belongs. The second part is called the specific name (zoology), specific name or the specific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island), and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed. Māori oral tradition tells that Kupe discovered and explored the region in about the 10th century. The area was initially settled by Māori iwi such as Rangitāne and Muaūpoko. The disruptions of the Musket Wars led to them being overwhelmed by northern iwi such as Te Āti Awa by the early 19th century. Wellington's current form was originally designed by Captain William Mein Smith, the first Surveyor General for Edward Wakefield's New Zealand Company, in 1840. Smith's plan included a series of inter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
